Little Miroku and the Wandering Child
by Lady Sigyn
Summary: Miroku seems to be a bit shorter than he used to be... All due to the fact that somehow, he's gone back a few years and now looks like a 7yearold. But wait, is he acting like one, too? Can the group find a way to turn him back? Who could have done this?
1. Chapter 1

Little Miroku and the Wandering Child

**Chapter 1**

Disclaimer: _Inuyasha_, it's characters and all related materials are copyright Rumiko Takahashi.

A soft wind's gust allowed fallen leaves to blow past the three people standing together, watching the evening slowly turn into night. Inuyasha stood in-between the two girls with his arms crossed tight and an annoyed look on his face. There was an impatience about him that was greater than any demon's aura they had ever sensed. Shippo cowered on Kagome's right shoulder, as far from Inuyasha as he could safely be. Kagome merely sighed at Inuyasha's attitude and closed her eyes, attempting to ignore him.

Sango glanced over at Inuyasha and looked behind her slightly. She was much better at concealing it, but it was true that she was becoming rather impatient, also. For the first time since arriving at this village, Sango broke the silence with a quiet voice. "There may be a village onward a way."

To any stranger, this may have sounded like a statement, but the group had been together for so long Inuyasha knew it was a suggestion and with little thought he nodded his head and mumbled an approval.

Sango nodded back and left the group to approach the monk some ways away who had been desperately trying to explain to the headman of the village that they were plagued by a terrible demon. However, the headman continuously kept looking back at Inuyasha with fear and assured the monk they did not need his help. He knew allowing them to help would mean they would have to grant them a bed. They also knew the headman was afraid of Inuyasha, which made Inuyasha very angry for being prejudged, so it was assumed they had might as well leave anyway.

"Houshi-sama," Sango whispered, putting a hand on his shoulder to get his attention. He turned to her immediately, recognizing her voice and stepped away from the headman to listen. "Inuyasha is ready to leave. Maybe we can find another village up ahead."

Miroku glanced back at the group who was still waiting and nodded. He turned back to the headman and bowed his head, thanking him anyway and wishing them good luck with any demons that may enter his village. Sango smiled at his last attempt to get them a place to stay and they walked back to the group together.

"There's a river up this way," Inuyasha grumbled, still angered by the prejudice the man had shown him which always gave him flashback to his childhood. "There's gotta be people livin' by it."

Kagome stopped when she felt something hit her shoulder. Inuyasha to her left did not stop, but his ear twitched when he felt the same thing hit him on the head.

"It's raining," Miroku sighed. "What a day this has been." Indeed it has been quite a day. A surprise attack by a demon injured Inuyasha, although he was mostly healed by now Kagome still wanted him to rest somewhere. Sango's leg had received a gash from the demon's teeth, and she was very tired from the battle. Although she claimed she was fine, and Kagome's medicine was helping, Miroku wanted them to rest also, for her sake. To top it off, they had tried staying in two villages already with no luck, and now they were out in the rain not even certain if there was a village nearby or not.

"There's a forest that way," Shippo pointed to the right. "We can stay there for the night, right?"

"We'll probably have to," Inuyasha replied. "Sango's been walking on that leg all day."

Sango sighed at the fact everyone worried about her so much. There were times her being such a strong warrior made her feel as if no one looked at her as a woman, and then there were times she felt she was pitied for the same thing. "I've said I'm fine," she spoke up. "You don't need to stop now because of me."

Miroku and Kagome smiled at Inuyasha. Miroku, because of the fact that Inuyasha cared about Sango's health and tried his best not to show it. Kagome, for the same reason but also because she knew Inuyasha not only wanted to rest for Sango, but because he needed to lie down for a little while, too.

The rain picked up and fell heavier now, and the canopy of trees looked more promising than ever. "It's fine, Sango-chan," Kagome said as she strolled in the direction of the forest behind Inuyasha. Sango shook her head but followed suit with the others, Kirara mewing her agreement in the back.

"Here we are," Kagome smiled. She was sitting on her knees digging through her bag and had found another blanket. She handed it to Sango, who thanked her with an equal smile and walked over to make her a bed on the ground. "Do you want a blanket, Inuyasha?"

Inuyasha was poking the small fire he had made with a stick. He glared over at her and turned back to the fire. "What kind of a question is that? Have I ever used one?"

Kagome frowned. "I was just asking, because you're wet. I don't want you to get sick."

"Keh," Inuyasha replied. Before Kagome could snap a response, Miroku returned from the depths of the forest carrying a large armful of logs.

"Here's some more, Inuyasha," he said as he bent down to set them by the fire. "They should last the whole night."

Behind him, Shippo came trailing in. He dragged one small log behind him that anyone else in the group could have carried one-handed with no problem. "Here's another," he chirped. "I helped, Kagome."

Kagome smiled at him, as did Miroku. "Yes," he said, "you're a very good helper, Shippo."

Shippo beamed at the compliment and with a newfound pride managed the urge to drag the wood next to Miroku's pile. Inuyasha, as usual, felt the need to pick on him.

"Nice work," he mumbled. "That twig'll come in handy all right."

Shippo glared at him. "Oh yeah, Inuyasha? At least I don't complain about every little thing! What is your problem?" And the two began to argue with Kagome attempting to referee. Miroku had long left the three to sit by Sango's side.

"Do you need any more bandages?" He asked with a worried look on his face. Sango sat on the blanket Kagome had given her idly petting Kirara on her other side. A small blush crept upon her face at his concern and, sure to avoid eye contact, she looked down at Kirara and shook her head.

He smiled at her, and crossed his arms. "Inuyasha was angry after all the damage that demon did that there was no jewel shard."

Sango gave a short laugh, and even though it was not much, it made Miroku's heart lighter to know she was happy now. "Inuyasha's always angry."

This comment made Miroku chuckle. Sango glanced over at him, thinking of how nice it was to hear him laugh like that. Their eyes met, and Sango did not know what to do, but surprisingly Miroku was first to look away.

"I have to go collect some more wood," he said finally. Sango watched curiously as he quickly stood up and left their small campsite, the other three not noticing as they were in argument. Sango glanced over at the fire and thought she was certain that Miroku had already gone to get wood.

Creeping through the forest, Miroku tried to retrace his steps from a few minutes ago. Finally, he found the big group of bushes and wandered over to it looking around for what he had seen earlier. Pushing past some branches, he spotted it immediately. A young woman of exceeding beauty was standing by a bush, holding a bucket, and picking berries to put into it. A very large grin spread across his face, he remembered how he had seen her and began to approach her when Shippo popped up and he knew he would have to return. Now, however, he was alone. He stood up and brushed the branches away, walking in-between two bushes to the young woman's side.

The young woman looked up when she sensed his presence and smiled at him. "Ah, Houshi-sama," she acknowledged his robed immediately. "Is there something you need from, an innocent village girl such as myself?"

His grin spread even more. The question she asked was almost perfect and the way she said it almost teased him had she really known him. "Well," he began taking in her beauty some more. "I would like to ask you a question. A simple one, in fact."

"And I would like to ask you a question," she giggled in return, turning to face him directly. He hair was not bound like most village girls, it was free, though it only came to upper part of her back. It was a dark brown, which matched her eyes. She was very beautiful, but somehow had a sense of cuteness among her like that of a child, although she had to be close to Miroku's age.

"And what is that?" Miroku asked playfully, giving her a wink.

She smiled at him an reached into her little bucket, pulling out an oddly shaped berry that he had never seen. It was mixed of green and orange and a bit larger than most berries. "These are very common around here, although most travelers have never seen them. They are my favorite, won't you try one?"

Miroku held out his right hand and the young woman placed it in his palm. He inspected it for a second and then ate it without much thought. "Hm, yes it is quite delectable," he mused as he looked back up to the young woman. Surprise overtook Miroku when he realized that girl was no longer there. He looked around and saw no sign of her. Confused, rubbed his head and slowly began the brisk walk back to the campsite before suspicion was spawned.

"No wood?" Sango asked dryly, wondering where Miroku had gone off to. Kagome and Shippo had already fallen asleep and Sango and Inuyasha sat around, wide awake.

Miroku forgot his excuse and thought quickly to come up with an excuse. "No good dry wood, I must have gotten it all the first time," he responded calmly.

Sango eyes him for a moment before laying down and closing her eyes to go to sleep. Miroku's eyes trailed from her to Inuyasha, who sat by the fire watching him with narrowed eyes.

"What have you been up to?" Inuyasha asked straightforwardly.

Miroku shrugged, took a spot near the fire against a rock and closed his eyes hoping sleep would consume him soon – and quickly.

**End of Chapter 1**

A/N: Wow, I have emerged from the kazaana that is not writing fanfics. It is so much more fun doing this, and I'm glad to be back at it. This story won't be the best, but it will help me get back into the swing of writing fanfiction after so many months without it. And I need to learn new rating system... This story, sadly, is not as Miroku/Sango centered as I could have made it (I realize as I write chapter 2) but I'll try my best to put my favorite anime couple in as much as possible. Be sure to look for the second chapter by the weekend. As with all my writings, thank you for spending your time reading this, I appreciate it:)


	2. Chapter 2

Little Miroku and the Wandering Child

**Chapter 2**

Miroku found himself mumbling in his sleep, which he had not done for many years. The sound woke him up. His eyes opened up, but immediately closed at the sunlight pouring in through the treetops above. "Ugh," he groaned, covering his face with his large sleeve and rolling over onto his side. Now that the sun was out of his eyes, he could get up calmly. He felt a large cloth over him, but did not remember sleeping with one of Kagome's blankets last night. Absent-mindedly he reached his hand down, grabbed the cloth on him, and made a motion to throw it off of him.

His robes stretched when he did that and his brows furrowed. He never knew his robes to be so large that it felt like a blanket lying on top of him. Rubbing his eye, he pushed himself up and looked down at himself. His eyes immediately widened and he let out a small cry.

Inuyasha's eyes opened quickly and, Tetsaiga in hand, he stood up from his sleeping position. He noticed the sunlight and cursed himself for sleeping in. Then he looked over to where he had heard the cry and his Tetsaiga dropped as if it was too heavy for him. "M... Miroku?"

Miroku slowly turned his head to look at Inuyasha. "Inuyasha," he replied in shock. He used his hands to push himself up to a standing position and pointed at himself. "Look!"

Inuyasha was looking. Miroku's height had greatly decreased, and he looked as though he would just reach the height of Inuyasha's stomach. In fact, not only did Miroku look shorter, he looked younger, and his voice was no where as deep as it had always been.

"Damn," Inuyasha mumbled without being able to think of anything else to say. The commotion woke Sango and Kagome up.

Sango jolted up, being a demon slayer she was not one for slowly waking up. She looked at Inuyasha first, but seeing his gaping expression, followed his line of sight to Miroku. She gasped, but covered her mouth so no one knew, though everyone heard her. Miroku looked over at her and frowned. "Sango," he whispered.

Kagome rubbed her eyes, not only to get sleep out but to make sure she was not imagining anything. Shippo jumped on top of her head and laughed. "How come your clothes are so big, Miroku?"

Miroku looked down at himself again. "I... don't know."

Sango came out of her shock. She stood up and walked over to him quickly. "Tell me," she said angrily. "What were you doing last night, hm?"

Miroku's mouth opened, but he paused and thought. That girl, that berry he ate. 'Could that be what has caused my current state?' He thought. 'But why would that girl do that? No . . . '

"Well?" Sango asked, obviously vexed.

Miroku looked back at her and gave her a weak smile. "Such anger, Sango. Shouldn't you be concerned about my position here?"

By now, the others had joined into a semicircle around Miroku now. "Wow, I'm almost as tall as you now," Shippo boasted.

"Poor Miroku-sama," Kagome said, shaking her head.

"Let me guess," Inuyasha growled. "It was a woman."

Miroku chuckled nervously. Sango's anger showed she had been thinking the same thing.

"This is just like the time he got his hand stuck to that scroll because that demon woman made him drool too much for him to realize she was sending his attack back at him," Sango said in an annoyed tone.

"Yeah," Inuyasha agreed with the same tone. "Or the time that woman asked us to rid her home of a demon, which we spent three nights looking for, only to find it was an everyday rat."

Sango scoffed. "And then there was that time that woman assured Houshi-sama her potion would make him so desirable to women . . . "

"Oh yeah," Shippo piped in. "We were fighting off hogs for a week."

"Okay," Miroku snapped. "We get it. I do stupid stuff because of women, we know. I don't think I can be so certain that it was a woman who did this, though. She seemed so sweet, and why would she want me to be . . . like this?"

Sango crossed her arms. "That pretty girl with the potion was certain it would work on women and not swine."

"Okay," Miroku put his hands up. "Look, I'm sorry. I know, I err. Won't you accept my apology? Come on, now."

Kagome sighed. "Where is that girl who made you turn like this, Miroku-sama? We'll turn you back now."

Miroku told them exactly where he had seen the girl, and Inuyasha volunteered to go look for her, although everyone knew the reason he wanted to search was because he did not want to spend a lot of time on it. He was gone for a short amount of time, in which time Miroku was being eyed by Kagome and Sango and measured by Shippo. A couple times Shippo turned into Miroku's normal size and joked about his height now.

Inuyasha jumped from a tree to land in the center of their campsite. "No sign of anyone or a village nearby," he growled. "We'll just keep going."

"What?" Miroku stood up in excitement. "You mean you're just going to leave me like this?"

"It will most likely wear off," Kagome replied. "Besides, we can head back to Kaede. She would know what to do."

Miroku looked around. "But . . . you want me to stay . . . like this."

Sango snubbed him. "Sorry, that means you can't flirt with village girls for now."

Miroku frowned. "It's not that . . . I'm, what, seven-years-old now? I can't do anything!"

"Good point," Inuyasha smirked. "We'll leave you here."

"Oh, Inuyasha," Kagome sighed. "Don't worry, Miroku-sama. We'll see Kaede soon. She'll tell us what to do."

Miroku looked down at his kazaana. It was much smaller now and had a much lesser chance of sucking him in. Nevertheless, he would rather be bigger. "Hopefully . . . "

"Well, let's go," Inuyasha snapped. "The sooner we get there, the sooner Miroku'll be normal, and the sooner we can get going."

"Sure," Sango said nonchalantly, following Inuyasha immediately.

Kagome kept looking over her shoulder and smiling. Shippo continually asked Miroku to play with him, to which every time Miroku replied with a dry "no." Kagome turned to Inuyasha and giggled. "Miroku was such a cute little boy."

Inuyasha glanced back at the miniature monk. "Whatever," he grumbled.

Kagome looked ahead of her. "At least he only appears to be his childhood self. Can you imagine what it would be like if he were completely reverted to it?"

"Yeah," Inuyasha replied, "I can. And I definitely would have left him."

"Please, Miroku, play a game with me and Kirara."

"Once again, no." Miroku crossed his arms and looked away. "I'm in no mood."

Shippo sighed. He clasped his hands together. "Please?"

"Curses, Shippo, no," Miroku growled. This frightened Shippo and he picked up pace to catch up with Kagome.

Miroku cooled down immediately and tried to apologize to Shippo for getting angry at him. Then he heard a soft giggle behind him and turned to see Sango. Now, not only did she need to carry her Haraikotsu and virtually all her weapons and taiji-ya equipment, but she had Miroku's staff in her hand, due to Miroku being too short to carry it and dragging it along, slowing him down.

"What's so funny?" He asked.

"You with such a squeaky voice," was her response.

Miroku lightly blushed at her comment. "My voice is not squeaky," he protested.

She smirked. "It is, but it's rather adorable."

Miroku gave her a grin that seemed out of place on his young, innocent features. "You think I'm adorable?"

Sango gave him a serious look. "Don't get a big head, I just mean –"

"Just think, Sango," Miroku continued. "If our sons have my devilish good looks and our daughters have your elegant beauty, we'll have the nicest looking kids in the world." He wiggled his eyebrows up and down suggestively.

Sango's eyes widened and her entire face blushed a bright red. She immediately looked off to the side. "Whatever are you talking about?" She asked, the words spewing out so fast they sounded as if they were one large one instead.

Miroku now walked with his head hanging down. Sango's comment about his voice made him feel a bit self-conscious. It was bad enough that Kagome, in order to allow him to walk and not trip over his own robes, tied cute bows on each side of his robes to fit his new size better. He did, however, feel humiliated.

After a few moments of silence, Miroku glanced over at Shippo, who was now sitting on top of Kagome's backpack trying to tell Inuyasha which way to go. He did feel bad for how he had acted. He had no reason to shout. The thing was, the more he thought about it, the better playing a game sounded. He could not understand where this newfound feeling came from, but he knew that it was what needed to be done; in order to make him, yet again, look like a better person than Inuyasha.

"Shippo," he finally spoke. Shippo peered down at him, cowering a bit. "About that game, do you still want to play?"

Shippo's expression changed quickly. His frightened expression changed to ecstatic happiness as he leapt off of Kagome's backpack, yelling "Yeah!"

Kagome grinned as she watched Miroku and Shippo playing tag, running around them in circles. Occasionally, Shippo would run off the road, but after Miroku tagged him Miroku would return to the group and run ahead of Inuyasha. No one had ever seen Miroku so playful in this type of manner. However, after an hour of this game, Miroku began to slow and at one point he strolled over to Kirara and whispered something to her. After he finished, Kirara changed into her large form, and Miroku clambered on top of her back and found a comfortable position to fall asleep, which he did quickly. After watching this, Shippo dashed by Sango, hopped on top of Kirara, and curled into a ball next to Miroku, also falling asleep quickly.

Sango looked back at them and gave them a warm smile, thinking of how sweet they looked like that. She knew that they could have easily arrived at Kaede's village within the day, Sango and Miroku riding on Kirara and Inuyasha carrying Kagome, but Sango knew Inuyasha would have rather found a person to cure Miroku close by instead of going all the way back to where they started.

Kagome looked over at Inuyasha who had been looking completely vexed thus far. She sighed and asked him what was bothering him. At first he just glanced over at her, giving her a glare that she was used to by now. He looked behind him to see the sleeping two on Kirara and Sango gave him a curious look. Turning back to Kagome, he grumbled.

"Damn Miroku, always wasting my time."

Kagome offered a smile. "Don't be silly, I think it's sweet how you help people."

Inuyasha snorted. "Don't think I'm doing this because I want to."

Kagome shook her head and looked off to the side, it would be a long trip with that attitude. She was tempted to hang back and talk with Sango, but Sango looked too deep in thought for some reason.

It was a good hour before Shippo woke up, slamming Miroku stomach with his hand, yelling at him to wake up and hopping off of Kirara's back to go see what Kagome was doing. Miroku sat up slowly and rubbed his eyes. He looked off to the side and saw Sango walking right next to him. He watched her for a second before speaking up.

"Sango, what's the matter with your leg? You're limping."

Sango gave Miroku a puzzled look. How could he ask her such a thing? That had been his major deal of the previous day, was whether her leg would be in a fine state to travel after the demon attack. How could he possibly ask that? Nevertheless, she answered him. "I got attacked by a demon yesterday . . . don't you remember?"

Miroku blinked twice and nodded. "Oh yeah," he replied. 'How could I have forgotten that?' He had been acting strange lately and just could not pinpoint the reasoning. Could turning back his years have troubled him so that he could not act properly anymore? Then he thought about his sleep, and realized the sun was so high in the air. He never got tired during their walking, and definitely never napped for such a long period of time. Confused and a little upset at himself, he thanked Kirara for allowing him a ride and slid off of her back.

Kirara mewed happily and decided to reside on Sango's left shoulder, curling up into her own little ball and falling asleep. Miroku tried to walk next to Sango, but he seemed to lag a bit behind due to the fact that her strides were longer than his now. He was certain there was no way she could still be angry with him, so he tried to think of something to say. Alas, no matter his size, Miroku was the same. His eyes fell on a part of Sango's anatomy that not only did he gleefully take looks at every once in a while, but now was not too far away from his height anymore.

Double stepping to catch up with her now, he tried his best to keep her pace, for every one of her steps he had to take two, but he caught up to her in no time. He reached his hand out to her backside, always knowing it to be a good size but not as nicely-sized as it seemed now, and with a sigh he rested his hand on it and got two rubs.

That was, only two rubs until Sango realized what was happening and whirled around quickly grabbing Haraikotsu in the process and bringing it down almost connecting with Miroku's head. Miroku's eyes became huge and he let out a weak cry as it hovered above his head. Sango froze and stared down at him. Something in her could not hit him. It had to be the fact that he was a child. Well, even though he was obviously the same perverted monk that she knew, still, he had the innocence of a child somehow, and Sango was not one to hurt a child at all. Angry at Miroku and confused with herself, she put Haraikotsu back around her shoulder and sped up her walking so as to catch up with Inuyasha and Kagome.

After a little while of not encountering the little monk, Sango found herself looking over her shoulder for him. She was very surprised to see him many yards away, walking slowly and shuffling his feet with his head hanging. "Inuyasha," she said.

Inuyasha stopped and turned to look at her, but he only saw the back of her head. He followed where she was looking to see Miroku lagging behind in the back and growled. "Hang on," he said and jolted back to Miroku rather quickly. "What is your problem?"

"For some reason," Miroku breathed, bending over to rest his hand on his knees, "I have the stamina and endurance of a child . . . "

Inuyasha raised his eyebrow. "What?"

"Well, I've been thinking about it," Miroku replied. He wet his dried lips and stood up to look at Inuyasha as best he could. "There's no other way to explain this. I can usually keep up with you all, but too much and I get too tired to do anything. Shippo hasn't stopped hanging on Kagome since he woke up, you see, but even he could not have gone on this long."

"I don't get it, why would you looking younger have anything to do with your power and all that?"

"Well, I can't be sure... Maybe it's an effect of this curse I have."

Inuyasha rolled his eyes. "Well, hate to break it to you, idiot... but you're slowing us down. Dramatically. I was tryin' to be nice, but this is too much."

Miroku blinked. "What exactly are you saying, here?" Then his eyes widened in surprise as in one swift movement Inuyasha grabbed the back of his robed and lifted him up. Miroku did not know what to say when he found himself sitting on Inuyasha's back.

"Don't ever bring this up, and don't frikkin pull my hair," he growled as he stomped over to the girls whose faces were both showing the same amount of surprise as Miroku's.

"Inuyasha?" Shippo asked, as if it weren't really him but he had been taken over by some other creature.

"Sango," Inuyasha began, "can you and Kagome ride Kirara?"

"I suppose," Sango replied. "Where are we going?"

"Where are we going?" Inuyasha taunted. "Kaede's village, have you been paying attention?"

Kagome and Sango narrowed their eyes at him. "There's no point in talking to him when he's in a bad mood," Kagome mumbled. "Let's just get Kirara all set then, Sango."

"Right," Sango replied.

Kirara hit the air in a moment's time. On the ground, Inuyasha began running at a steady speed that just barely surpassed Kirara. Miroku looked up at the large fire cat in the air and eyed Sango for a moment. They always rode together, he felt kind of alone without her. Not to mention, he could never recall being carried by Inuyasha, so deep within him he was nervous.

"May I ask what is wrong with you?" He whispered into one of Inuyasha's upright ears.

"Sure," Inuyasha growled. "When was the last time we found any trail of Naraku?"

Miroku looked away, even though there was no way Inuyasha could see the lament on his face. "Quite a while..."

"Yeah, and when was the last time we got a jewel shard?"

"Again, quite a while..."

"And what the hell am I preoccupied doing? Carrying you back to Kaede so you can be a normal, useful size again."

Miroku frowned. If the whole reason Inuyasha decided to carry him was to lecture him, then he was definitely upset by all of this. Sango had not hit him earlier from his antics, and he could have gotten a couple more good feels in if he was riding with her. Not to mention, the whole day had been quite odd enough without Inuyasha of all people telling him he made a mistake. He stared down at Inuyasha quizzically for a little while, but then a smile slowly spread across his face.

"I know why you're so hostile. The new moon is coming soon, isn't it?" Inuyasha's ear twitched in annoyance of the matter-of-fact way Miroku had said it. Nevertheless, he remained quiet and Miroku took his silence as a verification of his assumption.

Suddenly, a feeling arose in Miroku he was semi-used to, but there was something different about this manner. He could not place it exactly, nor stop himself from blurting out in an almost whiny sort of way, "I'm hungry."

Inuyasha slowed dramatically to allow what was just said to sink in. 'Miroku never complains about hunger,' Inuyasha thought suspiciously. He turned his head to look at him. "What was that?"

"I... um," Miroku felt embarrassed, he had no idea why he had said that or where those words had come from. He shrugged his shoulders and looked off to the passing by trees and even a random traveler who gave the group a raised eyebrow and nice, long stare as they passed.

**End of Chapter 2**

A/N: Sorry this one should be the longest of all the chapters. The plot thickens in the next chapter! Dun dun dun... hee hee. Thanks for reading!


	3. Chapter 3

**Little Miroku and the Wandering Child**

**Chapter 3**

"Turned into a child, was he?" Kaede pondered this news for a moment, sitting in the middle of the group who circled her. Inuyasha stood by a wall watching the scene casually, as Kagome and Shippo sat across from him. Sango sat by the door, halfway in-between both, her arms crossed and not looking very happy.

"Yeah," Inuyasha replied. "And he's kinda been actin' like one too, I guess."

Kaede furrowed her brows and absently stirred the hot soup bowl next to her. "Very odd indeed. Maybe if he could retell me everything that happened . . . Where is Houshi-dono, anyway?"

Kagome and Shippo both looked over at Sango and Inuyasha glanced over to her out of the corner of his eye. Sango's eyes narrowed and she shut them quickly trying to kick the thought out of her mind.

"Outside," she mumbled in a halfway between a huff and teeth-clenching way.

"You are the cutest little boy I have ever seen!"

Miroku grinned from ear to ear as he sat amongst four young women, each cooing over him and praising him in all sorts of ways.

"Now, now ladies, there's plenty of me to go around," he assured setting his hand on the hand of the girl closest to his right.

The girls giggled, but he did not recognize it as the giggling he was used to. The shy, flirtatious giggling he knew many girls, especially those in Kaede's village, to have. This was more of an entertaining giggle, as if something was funny to them. Then he realized, he was nothing more of than a cute little boy to them, and would definitely not be able to get anywhere. When this dawned on him he heaved a great sigh.

"Ah, Houshi-dono. It is true of your height, it's always good to be taller than others," Kaede joked at seeing Miroku. The group had come with her, and Miroku quickly stood up.

"Kaede-sama, how pleasant to see you," although it can be said that the second part of that sentence was said because he was looking over at Sango, who really was just as beautiful when she was angry. The village girls were always a little fun to tease and such, especially when the thought that he needed an heir before his death plagued the back of his mind. Nevertheless, his ways around those girls were practically frivolous in relation to his feelings for her. He never lied when he told Sango his heart belonged to only her, so it always made him wonder why she got so angry still.

"Now, Houshi-dono," Kaede's words snapped him out of his thoughts. "Relay to me everything that happened before you found yourself in this predicament."

"And then I woke up, and I was like this."

Kaede nodded at him. They had returned to Kaede's hut where they all sat listening to the story they, also, had just heard completely. Sango's wave of jealousy over the adjectives Miroku had used to describe the girl was now replaced with curiosity as they all silently waited for Kaede's response.

"I'm afraid cases like this are not well-known," Kaede began.

Inuyasha snorted. "We didn't come all the way to see you for no reason."

"That's right," Kaede nodded. "You didn't. All I know, is there is a mountain south of here where it is said many children go wandering to and when they emerge, they have aged into adulthood."

"Really?" Miroku asked with a newly sparked interest.

"Indeed," Kaede responded. "However, the only reason these children have aged is due to the fact that years go by, you see."

"Ah," Miroku replied lamely.

Inuyasha approached the two in the center of the room. "But there's a reason why all the kids go to the mountain, ain't there?"

Kaede shook her head. "None that I know of, it is a mystery, but in these times no one bothers troubling themselves with looking to see when they have their own lives to take care of."

Kagome caught Inuyasha's eye. "What do you think, Inuyasha?"

"I think I know what mountain she's talkin' about," Inuyasha replied crossing his arms again. "It might be worth a look, but if it ends up just being a refuge for runaways then we wasted a whole day . . . "

It was understood. Like Inuyasha said, if they departed for the mountain in the morning only to find nothing of use, then they would have wasted that day and Inuyasha would turn human that evening, then they may need to find shelter. It was all rather difficult.

Shippo popped up next to Miroku. "Maybe the children are actually sprites who play pranks on humans by turning them into children. It's possible."

"Perhaps," Miroku replied, trying to consider what would be the best thing to do and be fair to everyone and not be the handicap amongst them.

"I don't see what point there is in thinking too deeply into it," Sango finally spoke up and all eyes were on her. "I mean, we have a lead . . . we should follow it. That's how you exterminate demons, follow leads until it gets you somewhere."

Even though her analogy was seen as a good idea by everyone else, Kagome could not help but send her a knowing smile. She knew Sango wanted Miroku back to his rightful age again, not just for him either.

Inuyasha shrugged. "I don't care, but that means you all need to get to sleep. We're leaving early tomorrow."

Miroku rolled from him back to his side, then from his side back to his back. He continued doing this as he dreamed. "Father," he whispered in a scared voice. He writhed on the floor again and gave a soft cry, then abruptly sat up and opened his eyes. He was breathing hard, and for some reason he could not figure out why. Was he talking in his sleep again? Was he rolling all over the place? He had not done this stuff in years, what was happening to him?

His eyes trailed over to see Shippo and Kagome cuddling together under one of her blankets. He frowned and felt a little lonely. Then his eyes traveled across the room to see Sango lying with one of Kagome's blankets, too. Kirara not with her like usual, she must have been out hunting for food. For a moment, he looked down at his makeshift bed, considering trying to go back to sleep, but the nightmare worried him too much. Then, without really knowing what he was doing and as if he had no control of his body, he stood up trudged over to Sango's sleeping form. He could not say he was not surprised; Sango usually jolted awake at any sounds of a person coming close to her. Then Miroku remembered her sore leg, and how she kept up walking on it all day. She must have been exhausted.

Sitting on his haunches, Miroku lifted up the edge of Sango's blanket and scooted underneath it. When he was sure she still was not awake, he threw the blanket overtop of him and laid down beside her. Generally, he would have touched her somewhere or had a big, lecherous grin on his face. Oddly enough, however, he was merely content with his situation and fell asleep quickly. Sango opened one of her eyes and looked down at him. Generally, she would have smacked him for committing such an act, but he was not doing any harm. Besides, she could not exactly place it, but something had been different about Miroku ever since he did turn into a child. He had been acting peculiar, sometimes like his normal self, but sometimes as if he _were_ a seven-year-old child. Nevertheless, she did not worry about his presence at that moment. With his back pressed against her shoulder, she could feel him lightly breathing, and this rhythmic feeling soon made her fall asleep, also.

Inuyasha was not completely surprised to see Miroku and Sango the next morning. Those two had been so strange the past couple of months he gave up being surprised and just shrugged everything they did nowadays right off. Using Miroku's staff, he poked at the top of Miroku's head.

"Wake up, ya wanna grow up or what?"

Miroku woke up and rolled over onto his stomach, looking up at Inuyasha who was glaring down.

"I'm grown up, thank you, Inuyasha. My physical appearance just does not wish to agree with that."

"Yeah, yeah." Inuyasha grabbed the front of his robes and lifted him up, setting him back down on his feet. "You can ride with Sango, I'm done chewing your ear out. Do me a favor though, try not to screw up too much more, okay?"

Miroku sighed at him and dusted off his robes. He glanced over at where he had woken up and felt happy suddenly. Hade he really slept the whole night with Sango?

"Sango, Kagome, let's go," Inuyasha attempted ushering them out of the hut. Kagome was still half asleep and asked incoherent questions that no one understood, and thus were incapable of answering.

Kirara turned into her larger form and Sango was about to climb on top of her when she saw Miroku approaching her. Without any words, she bent down and picked him up, and at first he was surprised as she carried him over to Kirara's back. He blinked a couple times and was just about to accept this, until he realized that he had not been acting himself long enough and would not allow Sango to help him like this without him repaying her. Just as Sango sat him down atop of Kirara, he wrapped his arms around her and laid his head on her chest.

"Thank you so much," he replied, and nuzzled against her breasts.

Sango jumped back and held her hand out to smack him. Yet again, though, she just could not find herself to smack him. "Houshi-sama . . . Why can't I hit you?" She accidentally asked aloud, but did her best at not showing embarrassment at her actions.

Miroku gave her a smirk, but before he could respond, Inuyasha walked up behind him and hit him hard on top of his head, like he did to Shippo many times, and Miroku fell off of Kirara and hit the ground.

"Thanks," Sango said to Inuyasha, who sneered down at Miroku as he went to explain to the half-asleep Kagome that she did not need to bring her backpack with her.

Miroku looked up at Sango, who was peering overtop of Kirara to glare at him. His head hurt a lot, and he suddenly felt bad for Shippo who endured such pain all the time.

"You better behave," she warned, this time allowing Miroku to climb onto Kirara himself and, while on top, rub his head in agony.

"Inuyasha," Kagome mumbled, "Miroku-sama . . . that berry he ate must have been a secret potion."

"Is that what the old hag suggested?" Inuyasha asked absent-mindedly.

Normally, Kagome would argue with him over saying such mean things about people, but she was too tired to do so, so she merely nodded her head. Then, remembering Inuyasha could not see her, she murmured a confirmation.

"We'll have Miroku keep a look out for those berries he saw," Inuyasha said aloud, all though he was mostly talking to himself. "That'll lead us somewhere, too."

Generally when Miroku and Sango rode together on Kirara, Miroku would sit behind Sango and hold his staff in front of her horizontally so that he had a place for it. Now with shorter limbs than before, he had to hug pretty closely to her back for his arms to reach each side of the staff, which now had a different center of balance due to his not being able to reach very far out, so every time Kirara turned his staff slid that way and he had to wait until they were straight before he could hold it right again. It did not annoy Sango as much as one would have expected it to, but she had asked countless times if he wanted her to hold it for him. His pride would not let her.

**End of Chapter 3**

A/N: Well, it appears this story is going to be six chapters long, so I though I would send out the first half of the story for you all to marinate in. Tell me what you think so far. I'm almost done, I'm on chapter 5. You may have noticed that this isn't as humor-centered as most stories with this concept is, that is because I am trying to focus more on the plot and making it seem real. I hope it is not too unappealing, I try to throw in humor as I tend to be pretty popular at using it. Anyways, as I said... here is the first half. Chapter 4 may be out by the middle of the week, I need to tweak it a little. :) As always, thanks for reading!


	4. Chapter 4

**Little Miroku and the Wandering Child**

**Chapter 4**

Kirara had landed as soon as Inuyasha came to a stop on the ground. Now, the whole group stood together at the base of the mountain, looking up at it. It definitely was not the tallest of mountains, and it was pretty far away from any villages, so where all the so-called children came from was a mystery to them. The only odd thing about the mountain, was the closer you got to it the more foggy it seemed to become, but still that was nothing too out of the ordinary.

"Well, what's everyone gawkin' at?" Inuyasha finally spoke up. His words were brushed off by the others, but it did motivate them to start walking forward. Miroku led the way, he felt he had to. This was all his fault they had to make a detour from the search for Naraku and the jewel shards.

"Young travelers, please stop."

The group came to a sudden halt when they heard these words. Turning in every which way, Inuyasha looked right at the source of the voice, so the others followed his gaze. An older woman, rather chubby, but giving them a sweet smile, approached them rather quickly. Considering her physical appearance, she moved rather quickly.

"Are you all thinking of venturing up the mountain?" She inquired, looking them all over.

Inuyasha found it odd that no villages were anywhere in site, and off all time for someone to visit the mountain it would be the same time as them. "Yeah," he responded nonetheless.

"Perhaps I should warn you ahead of time, there is an age limit to being able to climb the mountain."

"An age limit?" Sango repeated with a perplexed look on her face, she had not heard that one before.

"Don't worry," Inuyasha said. "If it's a barrier, I've got it covered."

The woman's smile faded a little. She looked around and found Miroku. Although she appeared to speak to all of them, it was clear that she was trying to address only him. "There's a little girl who lives in the mountains. When you find her, could you ask her to come down from up there?"

Behind Inuyasha, Kagome, Sango and Miroku exchanged confused expressions. It was unclear to them how this woman knew so much, but they did not ask. Inuyasha did not really care, either. He told her they would, though he was not going to make an extra effort to find any girl, and then he took the lead of the group, heading upward.

"That was strange," Kagome commented, looking back but finding no trace of the woman.

"Yeah," Shippo agreed.

Inuyasha stopped abruptly. He looked around them quickly and put his hand on his hilt.

"Inuyasha?" Miroku started.

"A demon," Sango replied, holding Hiraikotsu at the ready.

Miroku was horrified. Inuyasha was always quick to sense a demon, but his monk skills allowed him to be quick at it, also. Nevertheless, there he stood, Inuyasha in front of him at the ready and Sango next to him in a prepared stance. Miroku, however, still did not sense a demon.

Suddenly, from behind a bolder off to the left, a large teal snake-like demon floated out. It soared through the air, moving closer to the group. Kagome grabbed Shippo and the moved out of the way. Inuyasha jumped into the air and pulled out Tetsaiga, holding it out on the way down. However, the snake could tell what Inuyasha was doing, and quickly moved out of the way so that Inuyasha only sliced at the ground where the demon had once hovered.

A quick dodge of the Hiraikotsu, and Sango could not help to admit, "It's fast." Miroku was backing away from the fight. He did not know why, but he was afraid. 'Afraid? I'm never afraid, what am I doing?' He held his shakujo tightly in his grasp. 'I have to do something . . . but . . . it's scary.' He shook his head. It was happening, just what he had been afraid of since yesterday. He was becoming a child, physically and mentally. The child within him was becoming almost too strong to handle.

The demon noticed Miroku, deciphering what to do in the middle of the mountain trail. It gave a hiss and slithered through the air over to him. Sango caught her Hiraikotsu and looked to see where it was going.

"Houshi-sama!" She cried out, attempting to get his attention to see what was going on.

Miroku looked up at her cry, and his eyes became large with fear when he saw the demon coming toward him. He shook all over the place, too afraid to move and no idea what to do.

"What are you doin', ya bouzo?" Inuyasha yelled. When Miroku continued to simply stand there, Inuyasha leapt into the air and sliced the demon in two. It let out one final hiss and evaporated into the morning air.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Inuyasha growled, glaring down at the little monk.

"Don't yell at him, Inuyasha," Sango said softly as she approached the two.

"What is wrong with you?" Inuyasha growled at her. When she did not answer he turned back to Miroku. "Why didn't you tryta suck 'em in or somethin'? Huh?"

Miroku looked down at the ground in shame. He could not allow the group to follow him on this journey to get him back to his normal size anymore. This would end up hurting them too much. He was really going to become a child.

"You're worthless, ya know that?" Inuyasha continued.

There was no way Inuyasha could continue with his rude comments, when a sit command echoed through the misty mountain and Kagome walked over to the group with Shippo on her shoulder, both glaring at Inuyasha for the things he had said.

Sango bent down to be eye-level with Miroku. "Don't listen to him, Houshi-sama. You're just going through a really hard time right now, and . . . "

Miroku looked up at her, and he realized what had been going wrong with all of this. "Sango," he whispered. "I have to go."

"What?" Kagome asked.

That woman had said there was an age limit for the mountain. If a little girl was up in it somewhere, then surely Miroku could travel up there, too. There had to be answers on this mountain somewhere, and he could not plague the group with his presence. They would not be able to follow him anyway.

"I have to go. I must do this myself." He marched past them all, just as Inuyasha picked himself off from the ground. He walked silently, with his head hanging, yet he walked quickly.

Sango stood up. "Houshi-sama, wait." She started to follow him, but after only a few feet realized she could not continue. "There is a barrier to continue climbing the mountain . . . "

Kagome looked over to Shippo. "Shippo, follow Miroku-sama until we can meet up with him, please."

"Okay, Kagome," Shippo said as he hopped off her shoulder and ran to catch up with Miroku, passing Sango by with ease.

After a moment, Inuyasha felt two sets of angry eyes on him. "What did I do now?"

"Miroku, wait," Shippo called. He ran on all four legs to catch up and was almost right next to him now.

Miroku turned to look behind him and sighed. "Shippo, what are you doing? This is too dangerous for you."

Shippo offered a smile. "Don't take what Inuyasha says to heart, he just likes to pick on little kids."

Despite Shippo's attempt to make Miroku feel better, Miroku merely frowned more. "That's the problem, Shippo. I'm _not_ a kid. Everyone keeps treating me like one, though. Inuyasha, Kagome, sadly, even Sango . . . I'm already becoming one, and them treating me like one is not helping it is only making me act like one fast."

Shippo looked around the gray stone that they passed. The fog was becoming lighter and it was easier to see where they were going. He could not think of anything to say. He was not sure an apology would do, so he followed Miroku in silence for a moment.

"Do you know where you're going?" He finally spoke up, as Shippo found it hard to be silent sometimes under tense situations.

Miroku shrugged absent-mindedly. "I'm going to keep following this trail until it leads me to answers."

"Answers. Right. Got it." Shippo then tried to be quiet again and let Miroku think and cool down for a bit.

"I can't believe Inuyasha's attack can't cut through the barrier," Kagome and Sango discussed, sitting on the boulder that the former and Shippo had hidden behind some minutes ago.

Inuyasha glared over at them. "Hey, shut up. I don't see anyone else doing anything."

Kagome ignored him and watched Sango, who was petting Kirara idly. "Are you worried about Miroku-sama, Sango-chan?"

Sango blinked a couple times and glanced at her. "Well, sure. I hope he is doing fine. Shippo, too."

Kagome clasped her hands together and rested them in her lap, looking up at the rising sun and how beautiful the sky was. "I feel bad for him. We have not exactly been treating him like the adult he really is."

Sango did not say anything. Inuyasha sauntered over the group and sat on the ground by them angrily. Kagome smiled at him.

"They'll come back soon," Kagome said with certainty. "We just need to wait."

Shippo was looking around the mountain trail, trying his best to remember how they had gotten where they had, but failing miserably. He wondered if Miroku would be able to find their way back, but he did not bother asking. Suddenly, he saw Miroku come to a stop and Shippo stopped, too. Then he noticed that a very large rock stopped the trail from continuing.

"It must have fallen off a higher portion of the mountain," Miroku explained. He walked over to it casually and asked Shippo to hold his staff. Then he put his hands against the rock and pushed himself off the ground, attempting to climb up it. However, he quickly slid back down.

Miroku glared and tried once again to climb up the rock, once again sliding back down. "It's too big... if I was my normal height it would be a breeze climbing over that thing."

Shippo smiled. He turned into a large bird, the shakujo in his mouth, he grabbed Miroku on the back of his large robes using his talons and flew him over the top, landing a little roughly. When Shippo handed Miroku's staff back to him they exchanged smiles.

"Nice work, Shippo. You don't usually act so quickly."

Shippo looked around. "This place kinda gives me the creeps, it's –" During Shippo's looking around he noticed something behind him. He turned and gave a small cry at the sight. Miroku turned away from the rock to see what frightened Shippo and looked surprised himself.

Floating in the air right in front of them, was another of those snake demons. Miroku refused to let anyone down again and would be certain to get him and Shippo out of this without any injuries. He cradled his staff in his left arm while he undressed his right hand quickly. Shippo peered over at him, shivering, but with interest.

"Don't worry, Shippo," Miroku said soothingly. He pulled the prayer beads away and pointed his hand towards the snake demon. A wind picked up quickly, but only small rocks and sticks laying on the ground were sucked in quickly. It pulled the snake demon in extremely slowly. Shippo looked worried. Miroku looked very angry. His kazaana was much smaller when he was a child.

The snake demon hissed, as though it were angry at having its time wasted. It quickly floated in the air, just out of the kazaana's reach, and headed straight for Miroku over top of him. Miroku realized using Kazaana its state was futile and he quickly wrapped it back up and took his staff back into his hands.

When the snake came down, and became really close to Miroku, Miroku took a swing at it. Yet again, the demon was too quick and it moved out of the way. As it did so, it curved around Miroku until it completely encircled him, and held him tightly. Miroku cried out and attempted to thrash away, but the demon was too strong.

Shippo quivered on the ground, not sure what to do. The demon noticed him and hissed at him, and the made Shippo jump and scream and quickly run to where Inuyasha was. He may have been lost on the way but it was practically an instinct on returning to the others. Fear drove him. As he ran faster and faster, he quickly noticed figures sitting around in a distance, and he cried out Inuyasha's name.

Inuyasha stood up abruptly when he heard it and Shippo ran pass him and right into Kagome's arms, worried he would be next.

"Shippo, what's the matter?" Kagome asked, attempting to sooth the young demon.

"Where' Houshi-sama?" Sango asked with concern.

"One of those demons got him," Shippo cried. "It just, wrapped around him and... I didn't know what to do... and..."

"It's okay," Kagome whispered, patting his back in sympathy.

Inuyasha pulled out his sword. "You need to take us back to where it happened, Shippo." He walked over to the barrier once again and held out his sword. It became red as he slashed through the barrier once again, again nothing happening.

"How is that even possible," he growled.

Sango got up from the rock she had been sitting on. "Maybe Kirara and I can fly overhead and try to find a weakness..."

Inuyasha looked around. "No," he said finally. "I can do this. This ain't different than any other barrier."

"Yeah it is," Shippo replied. "Other barriers are kept up by demons or spiritual people, they are their defense and stuff. This is just a spell that makes it so older people can't pass through."

"Shippo has a point," Sango replied. "If it was a barrier, Inuyasha would have destroyed it by now. It's not, it's just a spell of some sort." Shippo proudly smiled at everyone, finally being acknowledged as smarter than Inuyasha.

"Well, then what are we going to do?" Kagome asked. She saw the worried look on Sango's face an offered her a smile.

"What _can_ we do?" Sango asked. Perhaps it was a rhetorical question, Kagome was not sure.

Inuyasha snorted. "We're getting by this." He held Tetsaiga out again, ready to swing it. "Make no mistake. I'm getting into this mountain if it does take me all day."

Miroku groaned in his sleep. He rolled over onto his side, feeling warmth from the direction. Slowly, he woke up, and his eyes opened. His eyes became really large when he looked about, and he sat up immediately.

In the direction he was looking was a large, rusted pot sitting over top of a small fire. Next to the pot was a little girl, casually stirring the containment of the pot. She was very cute, with long raven black hair tied into a ponytail by a light green bow that matched her little kimono, with its own bow in the back. She looked over at him and gave him a smile at seeing he was awake.

"How was your sleep?" Her voice was just as sweet as one would have thought by the impression her looks gave.

Miroku, however, was confused by her question, because he was certain a demon had gotten him, so how this girl found him he was uncertain. He responded kindly, nevertheless. "Fine, thank you."

She kept smiling at him for a moment, then returned to her stirring, watching herself carefully. He saw her reach down and grab a small bowl, fill it up with the liquids from the pot, and walked over to him.

"Here, try this. I've been working on it for a long time, trying to get it perfect."

He took her offering, and she averted her eyes to look down towards the ground. "Thank you," he said and waited for the bowl to cool. She bowed before him and then returned to the pot, watching him from a distance as she stirred the stew in the pot without paying much attention.

It was not as hot as Miroku expected, no steam came out from the liquid. He took a sip from the side of the bowl and a smile spread across his face at the taste. "I can't believe it. This is... one of my favorite meals."

The girl used the sleeve of her robe to cover her face as she blushed. "Really?"

"Yes," Miroku replied. "You used persimmons... no one ever puts them in, I thought I was the only one."

She girl turned her head from Miroku's view to look down at her pot as she continued stirring. "That is great, we have something in common."

Miroku looked down at his bowl and then back up at her, confused once more. "That's right, I forgot... what is your name? How did you find me?"

She looked up at him shyly. "My name is Hourouiiko. I didn't find you, Miroku-kun. You found me."

Miroku blinked a couple times in surprise. "You... know my name?"

She gave him a big smile. "Please, have some more to eat, you look famished. I worked really hard on making it."

"I've had enough," Inuyasha growled loudly. He held back his sword, anger being sensed by all.

"Inuyasha," Kagome began. "Don't lose your temper, now."

"I ain't sittin' here while Miroku gets eaten by some snake demon," Inuyasha growled. "Ya know why? 'Cuz then it'll be _my_ fault." Kagome smiled at his horrible attempt at hiding his compassion for his friends. What happened next was a little unexpected, though.

"Kaze... no Kizu," Inuyasha yelled angrily, and with one slash the group saw three more of those snake demons appear from hiding spots and evaporate into nothingness.

"Inuyasha?" Sango looked surprised.

"Those were what was making the spell to keep us out," Inuyasha explained. He took a couple steps forward and everyone smiled at seeing he was able to pass through.

"Nice work, Inuyasha," Kagome said cheerfully.

"No time to waste," Sango said. "We have to go find Houshi-sama." She took off in a jog. Inuyasha and Kagome following her.

"Wait for me," Shippo yelled after them. "You don't know the way!" He ran after them as quickly as he could.

**End of Chapter 4**

A/N: I'm sorry this took so long, guys. I had a creative writing story for class to work on. Thanks for your patience, but I'm not too sure when the next chapter will be out. Thanks for reading!


End file.
